English has by tradition been the major and official language used in Australia. Dependence upon Southern British norms of correctness has only gradually been eroded, and the establishment of Australian norms to replace them has been equally gradual. Agencies of language standardization do function in Australia and formulate on an ongoing basis…

Presents evidence to show that the development and institutionalization of non-native varieties of English around the world pose a serious problem for all existing theories of second language acquisition. The issues that need to be addressed in future research are clearly defined. (Author/SED)

A survey investigated the increasing preference for Alemannic Swiss German over standard German in public functions in Switzerland, particularly in light of Switzerland's decision in 1996 not to join the European Union, which suggests an emphasis on national independence. The history of Alemannic Swiss usage and language policy are briefly…

This books examines the interrelation between language and society in contemporary Italy and provides an up-to-date account of linguistic diversity, social variation, special codes, and language varieties within Italian society, and in situations of language contact both within and outside Italy. Part 1 covers the evolution and variations of…

This edited volume focuses on the linguistic aspects of the Spanish used in the United States today. The earliest studies in this field concentrated on rural Mexican-American Spanish in the Southwest. The parameters of the field have been extended in response to changing urban and demographic realities, and to paradigm shifts in linguistics…

Suggests that a successful regional policy for education can only be achieved when the question of language has been satisfactorily resolved. Demonstrates this using the case of Belgium. (AH)

Examines competition between conflicting principles in Kenyan English (animacy hierarchy and discourse pressure to place given information before new), manifested in news discourse. Results suggest some differences between spoken and written Kenyan English pointing to a tendency toward a more standard native-speaker variety in news discourse, and…

In Bulgaria, a complex matrix of power relations governs English language education, and a triangle of international and intercultural relations between Bulgaria, United States, and United Kingdom. In the context of the changing economic and political milieu of central and eastern Europe, a study examines how Bulgaria fits into the emerging…

The study described here concerned the perceptions of White college students in a college of education about the educational, professional, and social status of speakers of Black English. The subjects were 46 students in two undergraduate classes in communication disorders. Each class was presented with a different recording of a passage about a…

Chicano English, spoken by many Chicanos and some Anglos, is an ethnic variety of English that serves as a marker of social identity, and it has specific linguistic parameters. It is similar to standard English, and often exists alongside interference English, spoken by Spanish-speakers beginning to learn English. Research supports the argument…

A student's belief in the value of literacy is essential to effective teaching and successful learning, but can result only from a local culture whose aim is to produce literacy. The social identity and cultural norms of the young are registered in their use of language, and if literacy, as defined by others, calls the norms and identity into…

A study investigated one aspect of the speech/reading comprehension relationship--that between the ability to select the correct standard English verbal endings (-s and -ed) and the ability to recognize the tense of a passage when time information was encoded primarily in the verbs and adverbs. Subjects were 135 third, sixth, and ninth grade…

Five implications are drawn from the literature on effective reading instruction for students speaking nonstandard dialects: avoid criticism and over-correction, develop oral English first, include the language experience approach as one basic method, utilize directed reading activities in content classes, and provide a variety of media for…

Mexican American high school students from Texas (50) and California (80) registered reactions to four varieties of Spanish: code switching, ungrammatical, dialectical, "standard" Mexican Spanish. The last rated higher than the other three varieties, the two "non-standard" varieties higher than code switching. Judgements were…

Going beyond mere grammaticality, this book examines the basic writing skills of a group of community college students in Hawaii for errors in idiomaticity, or native-like appropriateness of expression. The book suggests criteria for the classification of "phrasematic" expressions, and a convenient terminology comprising idioms,…